Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Paul the Octopus invited to Spanish Festival

O Carballino, a town situated in the north-western Galicia region in Spain, has awarded the octopus with Honorary Citizenship and requested its owners in Germany to allow the ‘psychic’ creature to attend their annual Octopus Festival as the Guest of Honour this year.

Carlos Montes, the mayor of O Carballino, said they hoped the eight-legged oracle who predicted Spain’s World Cup triumph would be allowed by the aquarium staff at Sea Life in Oberhuasen, Germany to travel to their festival on August 8.

There has also been news about several Galician businessmen collecting 30,000 euros to make an offer to buy the amazing ‘soccer pundit’ octopus.

The oracle creature gained worldwide recognition with his flawless predictions at the recently concluded FIFA World Cup 2010, getting eight out of eight correct: seven Germany games, including the third place match, as well as the final of the tournament.

Paul has also become immensely popular in Spain for he correctly picked the Spanish to lift the trophy. Even Spanish maestro and scorer of the winning goal against the Dutch in the final, Andres Iniesta, was witnessed holding a plastic octopus during celebrations in Madrid on Monday.

In spite of all of this, it might not be the best thing for Paul to travel to these parts of Spain. Octopus is considered a real delicacy there, especially in Galicia, where boiled octopus served finely sliced with paprika, olive oil and boiled potatoes is the speciality.